Date of Award

4-3-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Alan King

Abstract

As the recent rates of obesity have increased, so too have the rates of individuals electing to undergo bariatric surgery. Extant literature would suggest that surgical treatment is the most effective in terms of overall weight loss, however the problem of binge eating persists even after surgery and can affect the extent to which weight loss is maintained. Thus, the current study examined the potential effect of a cognitive-behavioral (CBT) group treatment aimed at reducing binge eating the post-surgical bariatric population. Self-reports of binge eating, health-related quality of life, and depression were obtained from a total of 68 post-bariatric patients. Treatment participants (n = 30) received a 12-week cognitive-behavioral (CBT) group intervention at a local eating disorders clinic and control participants (n = 38) were recruited online. Initial results indicated that there were no significant differences either within (pre- versus post-treatment) or between (treatment versus control) groups in terms of binge eating rates and health-related quality of life. However, post-hoc results indicated that the severity of binge eating might be an important treatment consideration for post-bariatric patients undergoing psychological intervention. This study highlights the importance of considering persistent binge eating pathology in post-operative bariatric patients and provides insight into how current psychological treatment programs might be improved.

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